From: dbusse@primus-online.de Subject: REVIEW: Wildfire 68060 accelerator for A2000 Date: May 18th 1997 - October 25th 1998 Sender: dbusse@primus-online.de Distribution: world Reply-To: dbusse@primus-online.de Keywords: hardware, accelerator, A2000, 68060, commercial PRODUCT NAME DKB WildFire 060 BRIEF DESCRIPTION The Wildfire is a Motorola 68060 50MHz accelerator for the A2000, with SCSI Controller, PCI Bus, Ethernet, and RAM slots. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: DKB Software Address: P.O. Box 930344 Wixom, Michigan 48393-0344 USA Telephone: (810) 348-3755 FAX: (810) 348-3531 E-mail: deankb@ix.netcom.com dkb@dkb-amiga.com dkb@idirekt.com I don't know if all these E-mail addresses correct. PRICE (from may 1997) 2499,- DM (in comparison: Phase 5 Blizzard 2060: 998,- DM) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE A2000 or A2500. Kickstart 3.1 ROM. SOFTWARE AmigaDOS 3.1 only. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING - AMIGA2000 Rev.4.5 (updated to Rev.6.3) - DKB WildFire 060 tested with a lot of RAM configurations (at the moment I'm using 4×32MByte 60ns-32bit-RAM) and a Seagate ST31230N and a IBM DCAS-34330 - W.A.W. Advanced Chip-Ram Adapter with 2 MByte CHIP-RAM and 1.75 MByte SLOW-RAM - ECS-Denise - Kickstart V40.63 (- Comodore FlickerFixer A2320) - now PicassoIV with PalomaIV - bsc MultiFaceCard 3 - bsc Oktagon 2008 SCSI-Controller with 2 MByte FAST-RAM and Mustek Pragon 800 II SP - one 3.5"-Diskdrives (internal) and one 5.25"-Diskdrive (external) - Catweasel Z-II with one 3.5"-HD-DiskDrive and Buddha IDE with Mitsumi FX-400 and Seagate ST5850A - vortex GoldenGate 486 SLC 2-50 with 16 MByte RAM, Seagate 1.2 GByte ... INSTALLATION The installation of the board was very easy. Just "Plug & Play". DOCUMENTATION The Installation and User's Guide is be written in easily and simple English. Only the WildFire configuration screen should be more described. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS An AMIGA 2000 with the DKB WildFire 060 is as fast as an AMIGA 4000 with a Cyberstorm 060. When you use two identical SIMMs on the WildFire060, you could use the Interleaved Memory Mode which speeds up the memory. Results of SysInfo 3.24: G-Force030/50 CyberStorm060 WildFire060 Dhrystones 7612 37431 37398 Mips 7.94 39.07 39.03 MFlops 1.43 28.01 27.98 Chip vs A600 3.08 6.75 3.17 Results of BusTest 0.07: MemType op G-Force030/50 WarpEngine040 Cyberstorm060 WildFire060 WildFire060 no Interl. Interleaved Memory Memory Mode fast readw 10.9 MByte/s 50.2 MByte/s 35.0 MByte/s 37.5 MByte/s 49.2 MByte/s fast readl 21.8 MByte/s 57.4 MByte/s 45.7 MByte/s 50.0 MByte/s 61.1 MByte/s fast readm 26.2 MByte/s 54.4 MByte/s 46.5 MByte/s 46.4 MByte/s 63.7 MByte/s fast writew 14.3 MByte/s 31.4 MByte/s 31.5 MByte/s 14.1 MByte/s 16.4 MByte/s fast writel 28.6 MByte/s 32.0 MByte/s 33.4 MByte/s 28.2 MByte/s 32.8 MByte/s fast writem 31.2 MByte/s 31.3 MByte/s 31.8 MByte/s 28.1 MByte/s 32.9 MByte/s chip readw 2.5 MByte/s 2.3 MByte/s 2.3 MByte/s 2.0 MByte/s 2.0 MByte/s chip readl 2.5 MByte/s 4.6 MByte/s 4.7 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s chip readm 2.5 MByte/s 4.6 MByte/s 4.7 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s chip writew 2.5 MByte/s 2.3 MByte/s 3.5 MByte/s 2.0 MByte/s 2.0 MByte/s chip writel 2.5 MByte/s 4.6 MByte/s 7.0 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s chip writem 2.5 MByte/s 4.6 MByte/s 7.0 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s rom readw 10.9 MByte/s 49.8 MByte/s 37.2 MByte/s 39.2 MByte/s 50.2 MByte/s rom readl 21.8 MByte/s 56.3 MByte/s 43.0 MByte/s 50.4 MByte/s 66.5 MByte/s rom readm 26.1 MByte/s 52.3 MByte/s 45.1 MByte/s 48.7 MByte/s 62.3 MByte/s slow* readw 2.5 MByte/s 0.3 MByte/s slow* readl 2.5 MByte/s 0.5 MByte/s slow* readm 2.4 MByte/s 0.5 MByte/s slow* writew 2.5 MByte/s 2.0 MByte/s slow* writel 2.5 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s slow* writem 2.5 MByte/s 2.2 MByte/s (* for the test of SLOW-Mem I used the address $00c80000) BUGS 1. The 68060.library Version 1.9 from 5.9.96 has an bug. ReOrg Version 3.11 from Holger Kruse (kruse@nordicglobal.com) uses the FPU and it crashes with large Option files. When I rename the 68060.library to 68060.library.no and boot again, SetPatch shows a requester, he can't find the 68060.library. Then the FPU is disabled and ReOrg works o.k. ReOrg works also o.k. on an AMIGA 4000 with a Cyberstorm 060 with 68060.library Version 41.5 from 14th Feb. 97 by Ralph Schmidt. The same bug is also in the 68060.library V40.14 from Carsten Schlote. With this library the crash happens on a AMIGA 2000 with a WildFire060 and on a AMIGA 4000 with a Cyberstorm 060 too. The latest 68060.libraries from Phase5 (since V43.0 20.12.97) aren't still restricted to Phase5 accelerators. Now they works also with the WildFire060. They haven't the bug. ReOrg doesn't crashes. They have only one disadvantage: The boot time increases more than 3 seconds. 2. A weighty ploblem is a fault of the wildfirescsi.device V1.1. I want to use a flatbed scanner (Mustek Paragon 800 SPII) on the SCSI port of the WildFire060. But it doesn't work. It doesn't work witk ScanTek from Waldemar Zoehner and it doesn't works with CyberScan. The same scanner with the same Software works o.k. on a G-Force030 (A2000), on a Cyberstorm060 (A4000) and on a Oktagon 2008. But it doesn't works on the WildFire060, because of a bug in the wildfirescsi.device V1.1. I have tried enabling and disabling of synchronous transfer, supporting of LUNs and supporting of disconnect/reconnect, but nothing helps. I also tried connecting the scanner to the internal SCSI port, without success. Then I removed the harddisc drives and booted from floppy. Now the scanner is the only connected device on the SCSI port, but it still doesn't work. I told this problem to DKB since April 5th 1997 very often. On Nov. 19th 1997 I've got an answer from Dean Brown because the problem. He told me, he will look at the problem. But until now (October 1998) nothing happens. 3. The DKB WildFire 060 doesn't handle Slow-Ram ($00c00000-$00dc0000) correctly. I'm using the Advanced Chip-Ram Adapter from W.A.W.-Elektronik GmbH. This adapter gives 1.75MB Slow-Ram to my AMIGA. Readings from this Slow-Ram are very slowly. See the output from bustest above. This isn't a big problem, because Slow-Ram isn't customary on AMIGA 2000 Rev. B-D. Now I have 128 MByte 32-bit-Ram and I think I never need the Slow-Ram. 4. Sometimes when I turn my computer on, nothing happens. The power LED is dim and Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga doesn't work. I must turn the computer off and turn it on again. When the computer starts all right, then it works o.k. and without problems until I turn it off. This isn't a big problem. I could live with this. 5. There are buffer overflow errors on the MultiFaceCard 3. I think the reason is: the duart.device and the wildfirescsi.device are both using IRQ 13. All other harddrive controllers I know are using IRQ 3. I informed Dean Brown about this on Jan, 10th 1998. I didn't get an answer from him since them. But I've got an answer from a other WildFire user. He had also buffer overflow errors, but on the original AMIGA serial device. He got a program "nopostedwrites" from DKB which fixes this problem. This program also fixes my problem. Disabling the "Posted Writes" button in the boot menu does the same. SUPPORT 1. Support by the Autor of the Software: The 68060.library is programmed by Ralph Babel. I told the bug to Ralph Babel via EMail. Ralph Babel told me I should ask my dealer or DKB for support. So there is no support by the autor of the software. 2. Support by the Vendor of the Hardware: I bought the DKB WildFire 060 from the German dealer Village Tronic; D-31157 Sarstedt. I ordered the DKB WildFire 060 on November 15th 1996 and they delivered it on January 24th 1997. On February 17th 1997 I wrote a bug report via Fax and EMail to Village Tronic. One month later (on March 13th) I got an answer. Village Tronic told me, they had stoped the support of DKB products, because the miserable co-operation with DKB. So there is no support of DKB products in Germany. 3. Support by the Manufacturer of the Hardware: I sent a bug report by fax on February 18th 1997 to DKB. I also sent a bug report by EMail on April 5th, April 28th and May 13th .... to dkb@idirekt and to deankb@ix.netcom.com. The first answer I've got from DKB was on November, 16th 1997. Mostly they didn't answer. And it doesn't helps much if they nine month ago only answer: It's a NEW problem. They didn't here about it befor and they will look it it. And nothing happens. So there is no support of the DKB WildFire 060 by DKB. I don't know is DKB still alive or is it already bankruptcy. In Fact: THERE IS NO SUPPORT OF THE DKB WildFire 060. WARRANTY 2 year Limited CONCLUSIONS The DKB WildFire 060 is more expensive than similar products from other manufacturers. The only reason for what I bought the DKB WildFire 060 was the PCI bus for future hardware expansions like the WildPicasso. But the support team of Village Tronic (the manufacturer of Picasso IV) told my, there should by earlier a Picasso V than a WildPicasso. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright Dirk Busse Dirk Busse Germany I'm sorry for every grammatical error. But my English isn't the best.